Model-based optimization of injection strategies for SI engine gas injectors

A mathematical model for the prediction of the mass injected by a gaseous fuel solenoid injector for spark ignition (SI) engines has been realized and validated through experimental data by the authors in a recent work [1]. The gas injector has been studied with particular reference to the complex needle motion during the opening and closing phases. Such motion may significantly affect the amount of injected fuel. When the injector nozzle is fully open, the mass flow depends only on the upstream fluid pressure and temperature. This phenomenon creates a linear relationship between the injected fuel mass and the injection time (i.e. the duration of the injection pulse), thus enabling efficient control of the injected fuel mass by simply acting on the injection time. However, a part of the injector flow chart characterized by strong nonlinearities has been experimentally observed by the authors [1]. Such nonlinearities may seriously compromise the air-fuel mixture quality control and thus increase both fuel consumption and pollutant emissions (SI engine catalytic conversion systems have very low efficiency for non-stoichiometric mixtures). These nonlinearities arise by the injector outflow area variation caused by needle impacts and bounces during the transient phenomena, which occur in the opening and closing phases of the injector. In this work, the mathematical model previously developed by the authors has been employed to study and optimize two appropriate injection strategies to linearize the injector flow chart to the greatest extent. The first strategy relies on injection pulse interruption and has been originally developed by the authors, whereas the second strategy is known in the automotive engine industry as the peak and hold injection. Both injection strategies have been optimized through minimum injection energy considerations and have been compared in terms of linearization effectiveness. Efficient linearization of the injector flow chart has been achieved with both injection strategies, and a similar increase in injector operating range has been observed. The main advantage of the pulse interruption strategy lies on its ease of implementation on existing injection systems because it only requires a simple engine electronic control unit software update. Meanwhile, the peak and hold strategy reveals a substantial lack of robustness and requires expressly designed injectors and electronic components to perform the necessary voltage commutation.     

An experimental investigation of the engine operating limit and combustion characteristics of the RI-CNG engine

In this paper, the radical induced (RI) ignition method was applied into a compressed natural gas (CNG) engine to achieve rapid bulk combustion. The experimental RI-CNG engine was modified from a diesel engine. The combustion chamber of the modified diesel engine was divided into a sub-chamber and a main-chamber. The sub-chamber is physically separated from the main-chamber above the piston and is connected to the main-chamber via several passage holes. CNG is injected into the sub-chamber during the intake stroke and then ignited before the top dead center (TDC) by a spark plug. As the ignition occurs in the sub-chamber, the pressure rises, forcing the gases which contain a number of active radicals out into the main-chamber to ignite the unburned mixture. The purpose of this paper is to study the engine operating limit and the combustion characteristics of the RI-CNG engine. The engine operating limit was accessed with different engine speeds and injection timings. The obtained data including the coefficient of variation (COV), brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC), mass fraction burned and emissions were analyzed.     

Optical investigation of the fuel injector influence in a PFI spark ignition engine for two-wheel vehicles

This paper describes the results obtained in a port fuel injection spark-ignition (PFI SI) engine by optical diagnostics during the fuel injection and the combustion process. A research optical engine was equipped with the fuel injection system, the head and the exhaust device of a commercial 250 cc engine for scooters and small motorcycles. Two injectors were tested: standard 3-hole injector that equipped the real reference engine and a 12-hole injector. The intake manifold was modified to allow the visualization of the fuel injection using an endoscopic system coupled with CCD camera. Size and number of the fuel droplets were evaluated through an image processing procedure. The cycle resolved visualization and chemiluminescence allowed to follow the combustion process from the spark ignition to the exhaust phase. All the optical data were correlated with engine parameters and exhaust emissions. The effect of the fuel injector type on deposits formed by fuel accumulation and dripping on the intake valves steams and seats was investigated. In particular, the evolution of diffusion-controlled flames due to the fuel deposits burning was analyzed. These flames were principally located near the intake valves, and they persisted well after the normal combustion event. The consequences were the formation and emission of soot and unburned hydrocarbons. The multi-hole injector helped reducing wall wetting and deposit formation so that the emission characteristic can be improved. The use of 12-hole injector allowed a more homogeneous distribution for a lower time of fuel droplets in the intake manifold than the 3-hole injector. This study also investigated the detailed physical/chemical phenomena to figure out reasons for the improvement using optical measurements.     

A study on the effect of operating conditions for the stability at idle

A gasoline engine with an electronically controlled fuel injection system has substantially better fuel economy and lower emissions than a carburetted engine. In general, the stability of engine operation is improved with fuel injector, but the stability of engine operation at idle is not improved compared with a carburetted gasoline engine. In addition, the increase in time that an engine is at idle due to traffic congestion has an effect on the engine stability and vehicle reliability. Therefore, in this research, we will study the influence of fuel injection timing, spark timing, dwell angle, and air-fuel ratio on engine stability at idle.     

直接起动阶段直喷汽油机运动特性的模拟

建立了直喷汽油机的三维数值模型和运动学模型,并进行了试验验证。模拟了直喷汽油机在直接起动过程中不同喷油策略和点火时刻下的燃烧特性、反转和正转过程的运动特性。结果表明：与单次喷油相比,采用两次喷油策略时,首个着火气缸内混合气燃烧后的最大气缸压力较大,而且其大小受到点火时刻的影响;首个着火气缸内混合气燃烧后的最大气缸压力较大,则直喷汽油机反转过程中转过的最大角度较大;在各种喷油条件下,第2个着火气缸在反转到其最大转角前2°左右点火,正转过程转速较高,有利于直喷汽油机的直接起动。     

Numerical analysis of the combustion process in a four-stroke compressed natural gas engine with direct injection system

In this paper, a numerical study to simulate and analyze the combustion process occurred in a compressed natural gas direct injection (CNG-DI) engine by using a multi-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code was presented. The investigation was performed on a single cylinder of the 1.6-liter engine running at wide open throttle at a fixed speed of 2000 rpm. The mesh generation was established via an embedded algorithm for moving meshes and boundaries for providing a more accurate transient condition of the operating engine. The combustion process was characterized with the eddy-break-up model of Magnussen for unpremixed or diffusion reaction. The modeling of gaseous fuel injection was described to define the start and end of injection timing. The utilized ignition strategy into the computational mesh was also explained to obtain the real spark ignition timing. The natural gas employed is considered to be 100% methane (CH₄) with three global step reaction scheme. The CFD simulation was started from the intake valves opening until the time before exhaust valves opening. The results of CFD simulation were then compared with the data obtained from the single-cylinder engine experiment and showed a close agreement. For verification purpose, comparison between numerical and experimental work are in the form of average in-cylinder pressure, engine power as well as emission level of CO and NO. This paper was presented at the 9^th Asian International Conference on Fluid Machinery (AICFM9), Jeju, Korea, October 16–19, 2007.     

Effect of spark plug protrusion on the performance and emission characteristics of an engine fueled by hydrogen-natural gas blends

Mixtures of hydrogen and natural gas are promising for improving efficiency and reducing harmful emissions in spark ignition engines, since limits of flammability can be extended while stable combustion is secured. In this research, the combustion characteristics of long electrode spark plugs were evaluated in a hydrogen blended with natural gas (HCNG) engine. Decreases in the flame propagation distance through the use of spark plugs can lead to increased burning rates and further improvement of fuel economy in HCNG engines. An 11-liter heavy duty lean burn engine was employed and performance characteristics including emissions were assessed according to the spark timing of the minimum advance for best torque (MBT) for each operating condition. Retarded MBT spark advance timing with long electrode spark plugs due to increased burning speed supported increases in engine efficiency and reductions of nitrogen oxide (NO_x) emissions. The lower positions of initial flame kernels due to the use of long electrode spark plugs were preferable to improvements of cyclic variability due to reduced flame front quenching, and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions at the flammability limit were also improved.     

Improvement and experimental validation of a multi-zone model for combustion and NO emissions in CNG fueled spark ignition engine

This article reports the experimental and theoretical results for a spark ignition engine working with compressed natural gas as a fuel. The theoretical part of this work uses a zero-dimensional, multi-zone combustion model in order to predict nitric oxide (NO) emission in a spark ignition (SI) engine. The basic concept of the model is the division of the burned gas into several distinct zones for taking into account the temperature stratification of the burned mixture during combustion. This is especially important for accurate NO emissions predictions, since NO formation is strongly temperature dependent. During combustion, 12 products are obtained by chemical equilibrium via Gibbs energy minimization method and nitric oxide formation is calculated from chemical kinetic by the extended Zeldovich mechanism. The burning rate required as input to the model is expressed as a Wiebe function, fitted to experimentally derived burn rates. The model is validated against experimental data from a four-cylinder, four-stroke, SI gas engine (EF7) running with CNG fuel. The calculated values for pressure and nitric oxide emissions show good agreement with the experimental data. The superiority of the multizone model over its two-zone counterpart is demonstrated in view of its more realistic in-cylinder NO emissions predictions when compared to the available experimental data.     

Hydraulic characterization of a second-generation common rail injector operating under solo and split injection strategies

In modern compression ignition engines, complex fuel injection strategies are adopted in order to enable a clean and efficient combustion process and an effective combustion noise control algorithm. Multi-injection strategies inject fuel into the combustion chamber several times (e.g. pilot, main, and post injections) during each combustion cycle, while split-injection approach further divides the main injection into different shots, with very short dwell time. Split injection may help to enhance air entrainment into the spray core where the fuel droplets are highly dense and mixing quality is poor. These advanced injection techniques lead to complex hydraulic behaviors including injection instability and eventually affecting fuel metering accuracy, hence detailed investigations are required. Understanding hydraulic characteristics especially during peculiar events like start/end of injection and accurately quantifying the actual injection volume, injection rate, and pressure variations in different locations of the injection system in each single activation of a complex strategy are key targets. In this work, the hydraulic behavior of a second generation common-rail solenoid injector operating under split-injection strategy has been experimentally investigated in terms of injection rate and injected volume. An extensive experiment has been conducted in this study using a state-of-the-art injection system operating on a hydraulic test bench equipped with a Zeuch-method type injection analyzer. It is found that although the standard of deviation of injection rates and injected volume is quite small for isolated injection events, the shot-to-shot deviation for split-injection mode can be significantly higher depending mainly on dwell time, fuel quantity ratio between the two shots and injection pressure level, as an effect of both pressure perturbations in the feeding line and in the injector caused by close actuations, eventually joined to inertial phenomena of the injector needle. The present paper reports an analysis methodology for the quantitative evaluation of systematic inter-cycle deviations, in the effort towards a deeper exploitation of the potential benefits offered by advanced injection strategies.     

Control of cold start hydrocarbon emissions of motor bike engine by gasoline-ethanol blends and intake air heating

Two wheeled motor bikes are playing an important role in urban passenger transportation owing to ease of handling and affordable cost. Maximum amount of unburnt hydrocarbons (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) are emitted during cold start of spark ignition engines. The current work presents the possible reduction of cold start HC emissions of 150 CC motorbike spark ignition (SI) engine with ethanolgasoline blends and/or with intake air heating by glow plug. Anhydrous ethanol was blended with unleaded gasoline in the range of 0% (E0) to 20% (E20) by volume to be used as fuel. The experimented parameters were intake air temperature, exhaust gas temperature, fuel consumption and exhaust gas emissions. Without intake air heating, E10 was found to be the optimum to reduce the cold start HC emissions by 23%. With intake air heating in the range of 40°C to 70°C, maximum HC emissions reduction was 23.8% for neat gasoline at 50°C and 33.6% for E10 blend at 60°C.     

A probe to estimate the local fuel concentration in spark ignition engines: design and validation study of catalytic hot wire probe

A catalytic hot wire probe (CHWP) technique has been developed to estimate the local fuel concentration near the spark plug of a spark ignition engine. Knowledge of this local concentration is highly useful in studying the combustion process. The small fuel concentration variation is measured by superimposing a catalysis effect in the thermal balance of the hot wire. Various parameters such as pressure, temperature and sampling velocity have been tested for their effect on the hot wire catalytic response.To validate this CHWP technique, local fuel concentration was also measured by two optical diagnostic techniques: planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) and fuel/air ratio laser-induced exciplex fluorescence (FARLIEF). Comparison with PLIF measurements shows good agreement, and the capabilities and limitations of both techniques. With the FARLIEF/CHWP study, we can characterise the time and spatial variation of the fuel/air ratio in the vicinity of the spark plug in the gasoline direct injection engine.     

Effects of various intake valve timings and spark timings on combustion,cyclic THC and NOX emissions during cold start phase with idle operation in CVVT engine

In a gasoline SI engine, valve events and spark timings put forth a major influence on overall efficiency, fuel economy, and exhaust emissions. Residual gases controlled by the valve overlap can be used to reduce NOx emissions and the spark retardation technique can be used to improve raw THC emissions and catalyst light-off performance during the cold start phase. This paper investigated the behaviors of the engine and its combustion characteristics with various intake valve timings and spark timings during the fast idle condition and cold start. And cyclic THC and NOx emissions were measured at the exhaust port and their formation mechanisms were examined with fast response gas analyzers. As a result, THCs and NOx were reduced by 35% and 23% with optimizing valve overlap and spark advance during the cold transient start phase. Consequently, the valve events and ignition timings were found to significantly affect combustion phenomena and cold-start emissions. This paper was recommended for publication in revised form by Associate Editor Kyoung Doug Min Simsoo Park received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Seoul National University in 1977 and 1979, respectively, and a Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He served as a Principle Research Engineer at Hyundai Motor Company, a Director for Publication of the KSME, a Technical Advisor of Hyundai-Kia Motor Company, and an Editing Director, Project Director, International Director, Accounting Director, and General Affair Director of KSAE. He is currently Vice President of Editing and International at KSAE and a professor of mechanical engineering at Korea University.     

A study on the deposit formation in the cylinder and intake valve of a S. I. Engine

A spark ignition engine with port fuel injection (P.F.I.) system was used to accumulate cylinder head deposit (C.H.D.), intake valve deposit (I.V.D.), and piston top deposit (P.T.D.) on an engine dynamometer. In this study, the effect of base gasoline on I.V.D. was examined. The deposit forming tendency and the influence of the fuel component for decreasing deposits have been experimentally examined. The amount of I.V.D. has been observed to increase linearly with the engine operating time. It is also observed that the amount of valve deposit with newly blended gasoline is less than that with base gasoline.     

Coefficient of Engine Flexibility as a Basis for the Assessment of Vehicle Tractive Performance

The paper attempts to analyze full load characteristics of over 500 combustion engines. Using statistical tools, the author determined the value of the coe cient of flexibility. Engine flexibility is the capability of the engine to adapt to varying loads. Importantly, in the investigations, the author took into account the parameters calculated in the course of the investigations on a chassis dynamometer, i.e., actual, not taken from technical specifications of brand new vehicles. Di erent stages of operating wear allow a better characterization of the population. Subsequent utilization of the results in tractive calculations is more reliable. The engines were divided into in six groups, depending on the type of fuel system: fuel injected gasoline and turbocharged gasoline, spark ignition LPG, naturally aspirated diesel and turbocharged diesel. However, engines running on alternative fuels are characterized with a greater flexibility than the fuel injected base engines. Conformity of flexibility of fuel injected and LPG IV generation engines have been observed,which confirms the appropriateness of engine adaptation to alternative fueling. Gasoline engine supercharging allowed a reduction of the maximum engine speed of the maximum torque, which extends the range of analyzable speeds for flexibility and consequently, the flexibility as such.     

An investigation of design parameter and atomization mechanism for air shrouded injectors

With increasing requirements for the less harmful exhaust emissions and the better fuel economy, the conventional injectors in gasoline engines can be replaced by the air shrouded injector in order to provide improved combustion in engine operations. To find out the optimal shape of air shrouded atomizer attached to the conventional injector nozzle, the critical design parameters such as droplet size, fuel and air inlet angles, and injection angles were investigated based on experimental analyses. To explain the characteristics of fuel atomization, these experimental approaches were carried out using a Phase Doppler Particle Analyzer (PDPA) system. The droplet sizes of injected air fuel mixture were obtained by using the beam diffraction phenomenon. In order to improve the atomization effect, the various atomizers were investigated. The Sauter Mean Diameter (SMD) measured at the predetermined locations outside the atomizer represented the performance of fuel atomization. The experimental results show that the design factors and atomization mechanism needed for developing air shrouded injectors. The suggested design parameters in this paper can be a useful reference in the early design stage.     

A study on the design and application of optimized solenoid for diesel unit injector

With the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulating the amount of NOx, Particulate, HC and CO at all driving conditions, emission standards for diesel engines are becoming more stringent than ever. To meet future emission regulations, researchers have proposed two solutions based on injection control, the common-rail type injection system, and the unit injection system. Most researchers agree that the electronically controlled unit injector, which realizes high injection pressure and precise control of SOI (Start Of Injection) and injection quantity, has an advantage in meeting future emission regulations. In order to control the start and end of injection, each unit injector contains a time-controlled high speed solenoid valve. Thus, the fuel injection quantity is determined by the time interval between closing and opening of the solenoid valve. This study introduces a method for the design of the solenoid which is installed in the unit injector. It is shown that there are certain significant parameters to be optimized to improve solenoid performance: inductance, stroke, input voltage, coil resistance, load and switching time.     

Investigation of coal-water slurry fuel combustion in reciprocating,internal combustion engine

Coal-water slurry(CWS) engine tests designed to investigate the ignition and combustion processes of the fuel are described in this paper. The effects of three different parameters, namely, (a) needle lift pressure, (b) fuel injection timing, and (c) percent coal loading in the slurry fuel are studied in detail. Successful operation of the engine using the coal water slurry required modifications to the engine and support systems. The physical trends of combustion under single parametric variations are presented in terms of the cylinder pressure, heat release rates, and cumulative heat release curves. The major conclusions of the work include: (a) higher needle lift pressures led to shorter ignition delay times for the CWS fuel: (b) the ignition delay time of the advanced injection start was little different from that of retarded fuel injection timing due to poor atomization: and (c) dilution of the slurry with water can significantly affect the combustion processes and ease of fuel handling.     

Correlating armature and needle dynamics with voltage waveforms of solenoid-actuated GDI injector

The injector voltage hump that appears near the needle closing has been used for the real-time monitoring and feedback control of fuel injection duration in modern engines. This voltage hump has been thought to result from the abrupt change in electromagnetic induction by the stoppage of needle motion but detailed electromagnetic processes and associated armature and needle dynamics during the needle closing have not been thoroughly investigated in a wide range of injection conditions, which knowledge is crucial for the delicate control of fuel injection based on the voltage hump. The current study analyzes the transient armature and needle dynamics of a solenoid-actuated gasoline direct injection injector using an X-ray phase-contrast imaging technique. Then, the results are correlated with voltage waveforms during the needle closing transient under various injection pressures, injection pulse durations, and dwell times of split injections. The time derivatives of voltage waveforms showed lower and upper peaks in order in the regime of the voltage hump. Inconsistent with conventional understandings, the lower peak timing of the voltage derivative did not match with the timing of needle closing (end of injection) but rather matched with the abrupt descent timing of the armature and needle. The inflection timing and upper peak timing of the voltage derivative matched with the timings of actual needle closing and armature closing respectively. The amplitude of the voltage hump was near linearly dependent on the needle closing speed. The needle closing speed decreased upon the decrease of injection pulse duration and injection pressure which made it difficult to detect the voltage humps in ballistic injection regimes and low injection pressures. In split injection conditions, the voltage hump of the first injection was not detectable if the dwell time was shorter than the needle closing delay, the time from the current cut-off to the actual needle closing.     

Analysis of compression ignition combustion in a schnurle-type gasoline engine comparison of performance between direct injection and port injection systems-

A two-stroke Schnurle-type gasoline engine was modified to enable compression-ignition in both the port fuel injection and the in-cylinder direct injection. Using the engine, examinations of compression-ignition operation and engine performance tests were carried out. The amount of the residual gas and the in-cylinder mixture conditions were controlled by varying the valve angle rate of the exhaust valve (VAR) and the injection timing for direct injection conditions. It was found that the direct injection system is superior to the port injection system in terms of exhaust gas emissions and thermal efficiency, and that almost the same operational region of compression-ignition at medium speeds and loads was attained. Some interesting combustion characteristics, such as a shorter combustion period in higher engine speed conditions, and factors for the onset of compression-ignition were also examined.     

The experimental study of atomization characteristics of gasoline spray impinging on glow plug

In order to reduce the exhaust emissions of a spark ignition engine, it is important not only to improve the catalyst conversion efficiency, but also to directly reduce the engine-out exhaust emissions during a cold starting of the engine and warm up periods. The purpose of this study is to evaluate feasibility of a glow plug for an early fuel evaporator. In order to promote atomization, gasoline is injected on the glow plug with room temperature (20°C) and high temperature (250°C). To analyze the spray behavior characteristics, a PMAS is used to measure the SMD and the dropsize distribution of an impinging spray and a free spray. Results show that the evaporation rate of the impinging spray on the high temperature surface of the glow plug was higher than that of the free spray on the room temperature surface.